Gyergyádesz László, ifj.: „Csavargó”. Mednyánszky László élete és művészete (Kecskemét, 2007)
his sister, Miri and to Ernő Kállai, he learnt about theosophy and Buddhism during his second stay in France with the help of André Cbevrillon, philosopher, and then in 1904 he attended theosophical exhibitions. From his diary and the memories of his painter student, Nándor Katona, who hated him later, it becomes clear that he read Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s theosophical basic work, 'The Secret doctrine 1888’. When Mednyánszky represented the nature he was always looking for - irrespectively of the earlier mentioned theories - the invisible forming powers and energies of the world, like the mystical experience connected to the nature never became like a programme in his works, but stayed on the level of suspect. ‘Against the demons he founded an own religion from the mixture of a western type, romantic, Buddhism bearing the hints of elements of Nietzsche and pantheism and transmitted by theosophy, where the social sensibility and his objective interest almost like that of a scientist, could perfectly got on well with each other, like the deepest sympathy and the cruel eagerness in his treatment with his protégés in disasters - both those of the nature and the human race . ’ Mednyánszky was really attracted by disasters; he even searched the possibility of meeting and experiencing them. This is the reason why he visited the Etna in Italy Vázlatkönyvi rajz - Éjjeli beszélgetők (1890 k., kát. 25.) Sketch-book drawing - Talking at Night (cat. 25) in 1878 when it erupted: ‘The eruptions of the Etna became more serious, so he went closer to have a look. He got as close as possible and he saw wonderful things, such as green chestnut forests getting on fire and burning like a torch as the lava came closer. - He himself got almost in danger because while he was admiring the smoke and fire, the lava surrounded the hill he was standing on! - He could escape only running quickly. -’ For the same reason he went hastily to the South of Hungary when he heard about the flood of the rivers of Temes and Maros: ‘...I did not have the opportunity to make myself useful what can be a bad luck in this case. It is a shame that I was there when the flood was the highest and although 1 can row excellently, I did not help escape even a rat from the water; the problem is that I arrived a little late. However, I could see beautiful atmospheres, exactly like the end of the world. Gloomy clouds, cloudbursts, brownish-yellow water everywhere. Here and there the water was flowing calmly; mostly it was running at a frightening speed, carrying away trees, timbers and dead bodies of animals.’ However, Mednyánszky, besides the disasters of the nature was also attracted by the human, spiritual disasters. ‘The sight of morbidly feverish strains. The fermentation of the sensual fanaticism, extraordinary sufferings of the body. Sadism. This suicidal, reproductive instinct which exited its bed. The torturing of a live body shows this direction as sensual pleasure and pain are related to each other. [...] Nowadays from the point of view of the wide audience of arts it is the most interesting what is going towards the horizontal direction of self-destruction. Especially if there is something in it from the sacrilege. E.g. vivisection in the presence of sadistically excited audience. Painful execution of the sentence, where one of the judges shows an undoubted sign of sensual excitement. The object must be represented in a way that the spiritual process could be observed clearly. ’ The spiritual empathy, the deep sympathy and the exterior observation inspired by almost a scientist belonged to Mednyánsz- ky’s unique spiritual temper and often it fully cooperated: ‘Before leaving, J showed me the dead body 37
